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The Seven and Eight Year Old: Realistic Expectations: Last Installment of Day Number 10 of 20 Days Toward Being A More Mindful Mother

This is the third and final installment of “Day Number 10” of our series “20 Days Toward Being A More Mindful Mother”. I just wanted to briefly cover the seven and eight year olds. These are ages that are often seen as “older” in our society, and I am here to tell you these ages still need protection and also require appropriate developmental expectations.

EXPECT a seven-year-old still needs PROTECTION of their senses and of how much they are doing in any one day. A seven-year-old wants to do everything and anything, but as the Gesell Institute points out, a hallmark of the seven-year-old is fatigue. They need you to establish good bedtimes (7:30 is not too early for a busy seven-year-old!) and they need you to help them limit their activities.

EXPECT physical movement to still be REALLY important, and I am not talking about organized sports. I am talking about PLAYING and being outside in nature where they create the games themselves. Seven-year-olds should still be playing! The Gesell Institute mentions that adult supervision is still important when they play because sevens become excited and wild which can often end in “destruction of material or personal altercation.” Also, be aware many seven-year-olds are not too compassionate of those they deem “different” and while they thrive on group praise per Gesell Institute, most sevens also do not seem to “need” friends the way they did when they were six.

EXPECT a seven-year-olds to be more contained and quiet than at six, but also expect that they tend to cry easily “at any, every, or even no provocation.” Be careful becoming irritable or critical of the people a seven-year-old says is picking on them or hates them….Sevens rather like being gloomy and complaining. Try not to take it too seriously, unless you really do think it is a bullying issue at school or something else more serious. However, not taking it too seriously does not mean you do not treat the complaints that no one likes me, etc, etc as if they are real. The feelings are real to your child! So, don’t get dragged too far into it all, but also acknowledge how your child feels.

EXPECT a seven-year-old to think about death, dying, killing, violence. This is why the archetypal fairy tales found in the Waldorf curriculum are wonderful for this age. Take all the wild talk calmly! You can sometimes say something to the effect that children think these things, but add in that, “Of course we wouldn’t do that here in our house.”

EXPECT the fear stages that go with many seven-year-olds. A seven-year-old is likely to be fearful of many things; again, these feelings are real to the child so you can be sympathetic and compassionate without being completely dragged into it all. Don’t YOU be frightened of your child’s fears; that provides the child no sense of security at all!

EXPECT that a seven-year-old still will most likely touch, manipulate and play with anything that catches their eye.

EXPECT most sevens to be procrastinators, have short memory spans per Gesell (which makes perfect sense to we Waldorf people that memory is forming and being placed into play as something important now); and expect that they have a tendency to get very distracted easily. Sevens also try to be perfect and need reminding that no one is perfect or should be perfect.

EXPECT your seven-year-old to argue with you in a sense, asking “Why?” “Why?” over and over, more almost as a stalling technique for whatever you asked them to do. Do NOT overtalk to them! If you need help, see my post entitled, “Stop Talking! (”https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/04/14/stop-talking/) But do make sure your child has heard you- sometimes they really don’t hear you!

Realistic Expectations for the Eight-Year-Old:

EXPECT your eight-year-old to be expansive, outgoing, high energy, speedy! He or she may completely overestimate his or her own abilities.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to be hard on themselves for mistakes (May say, “I never get anything right!” “I always do things wrong!”) – At age 7, the child measures himself against his own demands, but at 8, he measures himself against what he perceives the adult demands are.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to love to talk! May also boast quite a bit (remember back to age 4, there are similarities!)

EXPECT fairness to be a big issue. The eight-year-old may dramatize sibling fights, love to argue and pick up on mistakes.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to be more interested in religious or spiritual aspects of life, even if there is no specific religious or spiritual leanings in your household.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to start thinking in terms of right and wrong, not just good and bad. This is where the curriculum for Waldorf Second Grade is so wonderful and fits in so beautifully.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to blame others for consequences his own actions have produced

EXPECT to still have to do chores and such WITH your eight-year-old as opposed to just asking them to do something.

EXPECT your eight-year-old to be clinging to Mother, demanding of Mother, doesn’t like to let Mother out of sight.

6 thoughts on “The Seven and Eight Year Old: Realistic Expectations: Last Installment of Day Number 10 of 20 Days Toward Being A More Mindful Mother”

Here is what I have decided to do:
I have been printing out each day to use the following morning in my quiet time, when my brain is at its best (!) I got behind on this with my family being sick & ended up with my print outs here there & everywhere, so have decided to wait until you have finished the series, Carrie, then have the pages all spiral bound & work through it, day by day. I am going to include lots of blank sheets at the end of each day, for my own notes. I think this is something I could do every year or so. What a wonderful resource. Thank you Carrie!

I love this blog. You follow Louise Bates Ames, my favorite child development expert, you speak of Waldorf curriculum, and you are helping parents better themselves. Thank you so much! Are you a homeschooling parent?